The Dharma Chain Embrace the Darkness on Some Kind Of Pure State
Since their formation in Byron Bay in 2020, The Dharma Chain have steadily evolved from a promising Australian psychedelic rock outfit into something far more expansive and difficult to categorize. Their relocation to Berlin appears to have fundamentally reshaped their artistic identity, adding a colder, more industrial edge to a sound that once leaned heavily on garage rock, classic psychedelia and shoegaze. The result is a band that now occupies a fascinating space between post punk, shoegaze, neo psychedelic rock and krautrock.
Released on June 5, 2026 via Spinda Records, Some Kind Of Pure State is the group's second full length album and easily their most focused and ambitious work to date. It feels like the sound of a band embracing transformation, taking the uncertainty of relocation, personal upheaval and modern anxiety and channeling it into a hypnotic and immersive artistic statement.
The current lineup of Amanda McGrath, Benjamin Rompotis, Giulia Piras and Aidan Stewart operate with a notably collaborative philosophy. Vocals, guitars and synthesizers often overlap and intertwine, creating a sense of collective expression rather than a traditional front person driven approach. Additional contributions from Enrico Semler and Jonathan Dreyfus further expand the album's sonic reach.
Recorded at Stare Crazy and Funkhaus in Berlin during December 2025, the album was produced by Jonathan Dreyfus, mixed by Benjamin Rompotis with additional mixing from Miche Moreno and Miles Deiaco, and mastered by Carl Saff in Chicago. Every stage of the production contributes to the record's remarkable sense of depth and atmosphere.
From the opening moments of Some Kind Of Pure State, it becomes clear that this is an album built around movement. Motorik rhythms pulse relentlessly beneath swirling guitars, while dense layers of reverb and distortion create vast emotional landscapes. Yet despite its scale, the record never feels overwhelming. There is always a precise rhythmic framework beneath the haze, allowing every song to maintain forward momentum.
Thematically, the album explores love, addiction, political unease, personal disconnection and the search for meaning within contemporary life. However, these subjects are rarely approached directly. Instead, The Dharma Chain prefer suggestion over explanation, creating moods and emotional environments that invite interpretation rather than offering clear answers.
Opening track Inside A New immediately establishes the album's atmosphere. Layers of guitars rise slowly around intertwined vocal performances, creating the feeling of stepping through a doorway into an altered psychological space. The song feels ceremonial in its pacing, less like an introduction and more like a transition into the world of the record.
Into The Night continues this descent, blending post punk propulsion with psychedelic uncertainty. Here, darkness becomes more than a lyrical theme. It becomes a physical presence within the music itself. The guitars shimmer and destabilize while the rhythm section pushes steadily forward, creating a sensation of movement through unfamiliar terrain.
One of the album's most compelling moments arrives with Borderline. Stretching beyond five minutes, the track fully embraces the band's krautrock influences. Repetition becomes a tool for tension rather than comfort, with subtle shifts gradually transforming the song's emotional landscape. Nothing erupts dramatically, yet everything feels as though it is constantly building beneath the surface.
Loves Confusion introduces one of the album's most melodic and emotionally resonant passages. Love is presented not as certainty but as contradiction, instability and longing. The song balances dream pop elegance with post punk melancholy, capturing the emotional ambiguity that runs throughout the record.
Previously released single Red Red Red Red Red stands as one of the album's defining tracks. Built around a driving bassline and relentless rhythmic pulse, it showcases the group's ability to fuse hypnotic repetition with raw physical energy. The song perfectly captures the meeting point between urban tension, psychedelic immersion and live performance intensity.
Cross Over serves as a bridge between the album's various influences. Shoegaze textures, post punk rhythms and neo psychedelic atmospheres coexist naturally, creating one of the record's most accessible yet fully realized compositions.
Meanwhile, Minor Prayer offers one of the album's most evocative moments. The title suggests spirituality, but not in any comforting or traditional sense. Instead, the song feels like a quiet plea emerging from uncertainty, a search for stability within an increasingly fragmented world.
Closing epic How Far provides the album's final statement. Spanning nearly seven minutes, the track allows The Dharma Chain to fully embrace their most expansive instincts. Layers of guitars, shifting textures and gradual emotional escalation transform the song into a cinematic finale. Rather than ending abruptly, the album slowly fades into the distance, leaving behind the impression of a city street illuminated by distant lights and rain soaked reflections.
What makes Some Kind Of Pure State so compelling is its refusal to fully commit to any single genre. Shoegaze haze, post punk tension, krautrock repetition and neo psychedelic exploration constantly push against one another, creating a productive friction that gives the album its unique character. At various moments, echoes of The Black Angels, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Spacemen 3 and The Underground Youth emerge, yet The Dharma Chain never feel confined by those comparisons.
With Some Kind Of Pure State, The Dharma Chain deliver a record that feels both physical and psychological, immersive and confrontational. It is the sound of a band embracing uncertainty, turning relocation, personal transformation and modern unease into something hypnotic and strangely beautiful.
A dark, immersive and deeply atmospheric album where post punk urgency, krautrock momentum and shoegaze electricity collide beneath the neon glow of modern Berlin.
© Thusblog
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